1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to a device for dispensing a product into a toilet bowl, and particularly to a device adapted to be hooked under the rim of a toilet bowl to interrupt the flow of flush water as the toilet is flushed and to dispense the product directly into the toilet bowl.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dispensers for dispensing a dissolvable product into a toilet bowl from a hanging position under the rim of the toilet bowl are, in general, known. Such dispensers are suspended within the bowl where they interact with the flush water to infuse the water standing in the bowl after the flush is completed with a dissolved product. Typically, the product is a deodorant, a disinfectant, or a bleach to clean the toilet. Additionally, a dye or colorant may be combined with the product to produce a pleasing effect.
In conventional dispensers, the product is generally held within a cage supported under the rim of the toilet, thereby to expose the product to flush water as it flows from the cistern to bowl. However, such a cage disadvantageously allows the product to be dissolved during the entire flushing operation, and therefore allows great amounts of the product to be wasted by being flushed down the toilet. Moreover, since the product is exposed to the entire flush cycle, the life of the product is unnecessarily shortened.
It has also been proposed to use a siphon in a lower closed compartment of the dispenser. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,551 to Hautmann, and 4,555,819 to Weiss. The siphon is said to prevent staining on the side of the bowl by positively stopping the flow of dissolved product and water from the closed compartment when the prime in the siphon is lost. Such devices are still vulnerable to a variety of drawbacks. Primarily, since prior art devices ignore the problem of waste, the siphon often operates during the flush operation, and the siphon prime may be lost prior to termination of the flushing operation. Thus, a large proportion of product is simply flushed out of the toilet.
Second, many such devices have open cages and therefore suffer from high waste and short life of the product as previously discussed. On the other hand, in those devices having a completely closed compartment, the product often sits in a pool of water between operations. Thus, the amount of discharged product is inconsistent from operation to operation since different concentrations of dissolved product result from different times between flush operations. That is, higher amounts of product are discharged as the time between operations increases.
Finally, since the siphon must be primed, there are occasions where the device fails to operate altogether, since an insufficient amount of water enters the compartment to prime the siphon.